MINUTES OF THE OXFORD MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEETING
REGULAR SESSION
MONDAY, August 5, 2019 – 7:00 PM
CITY HALL
PRESENT: Jerry D. Roseberry, Mayor; Council
members: George Holt; Jim Windham; Mike Ready; David Eady; Jeff Wearing. Sarah
Davis was not present. Staff members
present: City Manager Matt Pepper, City Clerk Connie Middlebrooks, Utility Superintendent Jody Reid, Police Chief
Dave Harvey, City Attorney David Strickland.
OTHERS PRESENT: Peggy
Madden, Art & Laurie Vinson, Adrienne Waddey, Anderson Wright, Dave Huber, Patsy
Burke, Cheryl Ready, Tim Williams, Brenda Williams, Cathy Allen, and Linda
Allen.
1. The meeting was called to order by the Hon. Jerry D.
Roseberry, Mayor
2. Invocation was delivered by Chief Dave Harvey
3. Pledge of Allegiance
4. Motion to accept the Agenda for August 5,
2019 – Ready – Second – Wearing, approved unanimous 6/0.
5. Consent
Agenda - Approved unanimous 6/0.
6. Mayors
Report
Mayor Roseberry informed everyone that Ms.
Sarah Davis would not be attending the meeting, she had fallen
and dislocated her shoulder. He also
updated Council on the health of Hoyt Oliver, who is recovering from
pneumonia at Riverside Health Center. Mayor
Roseberry extended well wishes and a speedy recovery to
both. Mayor Roseberry informed Council
that the Police Department had issued 71 citations, 46 warnings,
and made 4 arrests.
7. Planning
Commission Recommendations/Petitions
City Manager Matt Pepper stated the
Planning Commission had one recommendation to move forward with
approving the development permit submitted
by the residents at 712 Emory Street. Details regarding the
approval of this development permit will
be further discussed with item 10 on the agenda.
8. Citizens
Concern
Mr. Tim Williams (229 East
Soule Street) addressed Council regarding a citation he was issued for parking
his
dump truck on the property. Mr. Williams
stated that his family owns all the property in and around that
area and had been residents for more than
sixty-eight years. He would like Council to grant him permission to
continue to park his truck at his
residence. Mayor Roseberry informed Mr. Williams that he, the city manager,
and Chief Harvey were looking into the
situation and hoped to have a resolution for him soon.
9. 2019 Property Tax Millage Rate
Adoption
Mayor and Council hosted
three public hearings on the proposed Property Tax Millage Rate adoption. The
first two occurred on Monday, July 29th
at 9 am and 6 pm and the third was held prior to the regular session
on Monday, August 5th. Mayor
and Council discussed adopting a millage rate of 6.622 mills, which will be an
increase of 0.607 mills. This millage rate
will increase property taxes by 9.36%.
Motion by
Councilmember Ready to adopt Millage Rate of 6.622 mills– second – Wearing,
approved
5/1 with Councilmember
Holt opposed.
10. Alley
Between 712 and 802 Emory Street.
City Attorney David
Strickland informed Council that a title examination for the alley had been completed,
back to the late
1800’s, and there was no deed into/from any individual that addresses ownership
of the
alley way.
For that reason, he could not certify a title. He stated that the city could
still resolve the issue by
continuing
the title search on further back, or by moving forward with a quit claim deed
to the Roan’s
thereby
relinquishing any rights, the city might have to the alley. Councilmember
Windham referenced other
remodeling
projects with encroachments that the city has allowed to occur. Councilmember
Windham made
the motion to
allow the Roan’s to move forward with their intended renovations since it does
not include
modifying the
footprint of the house or the garage in question and to resolve the other issue
at a later date.
Councilmember Eady suggest strongly that
ownership of the alley must be determined.
Motion by Councilmember Windham to allow homeowner to move forward with
remodel of interior –
second – Holt,
approved 5/1 with Councilmember Eady opposed.
11. Moore
Street Sidewalk Project
City Manager Matt Pepper
reviewed for Council the Moore Street Value Engineering Results which yielded
three
options: Option 1 reduce width of sidewalk to 4’ (reducing the bid by
$11,402.82); Option 2
eliminating
the portion of the sidewalk that extends from the raised crosswalk on Moore
Street to Haygood
Avenue (reducing
the bid by $10,500); Option 3 eliminating sidewalk connector between Haygood
and
Emory streets
(reducing the bid by $2,735.95). Implementing all three options would reduce
the bid by
$24,638.77.
Councilmember Windham questioned if we could resource the funds from somewhere
else to
complete the
project as it was originally approved. Council did agree to reject the Value
Engineering Study
and set the
project up for re-bidding.
12. Emory
Street Sidewalk Project Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA)
City Manager Matt Pepper
explained to Council the details of the intergovernmental agreement with the
City of
Covington for contracting requirements and payment processing on behalf of the
City of Oxford.
The City of
Covington approved the IGA at their meeting on July 22nd.
Motion
to approve IGA for Emory Street Project – Windham – Second – Wearing, approved
unanimous
6/0.
13. 107 W. Clark Street
Renovation Project.
Councilmember Wearing
informed Council the committee had received drawings from Carter & Watkins
Associates.
The drawings, however, were not in line with what the committee had envisioned
for the
project. A
conference call to Carter & Watkins was scheduled on Tuesday, August 6th
at 2:30 pm to discuss
the drawings.
Councilmember Ready added that the DDA would participate on the conference
call.
14. Invoice Approval
Councilmember Holt questioned why there was a separate invoice from
Cowart Mulch Products, and why it
was not included in the original capital expenses. Matt Pepper explained
that a need did arise for the
purchase of additional mulch to complete the project.
Motion by Ready to approve July
invoices - second Holt, approved unanimous 6/0.
Regular Session adjourned at 7:27 pm
Executive Session
Motion to go into an Executive Session
at 7:32 pm – Wearing – Second – Holt, approved unanimous
6/0.
City Attorney David Strickland updated Council on ongoing litigation.
Council discussed personnel matters regarding
City Clerk salary.
Motion to adjourn the
Execution Session at 7:40 pm – Windham– second – Wearing, approved
unanimous 6/0.
Motion to adjourn
Regular Session at 7:41 pm – Windham – Second Wearing Approved unanimous 6/0.
Respectfully
Submitted;
Connie
Middlebrooks
City Clerk